Ann Voskamp, author of the book “One Thousand Gifts”, has a January Joy Dare to help her readers achieve a goal of noticing three gifts a day from God.
The one for today was “3 yellow things that strike you as a fresh mercy”.
When I first read it, I thought no way. Then I thought I’d better look up the definition of mercy and keep it in front of me as I contemplated three yellow things that were a fresh mercy.
Mercy is defined in Wikitionary as:
forgiveness or compassion, especially toward those less fortunate
So. . . forgiveness, compassion. Am I less fortunate? Generally, no. But that is not relevant to this exercise. We are all less fortunate before God. That’s why he extends his mercy to us.
So here are three yellow things that I think are a mercy in a way than I had not previously thought of them as being:
Yellow Post-it Notes – my favorite boy toy and I love using Post-Its because they don’t blow around or get lost. They’re also a great way to say I’m sorry, I love you, or you did a great job! They’re more than for just writing – they’re also a way to communicate forgiveness and compassion, and to show affection to each other.
Yellow Hi-liter – another tool I love to use. It says PAY ATTENTION. THIS IS IMPORTANT. When I read, I like to highlight my books so that later, I can quickly skim and reread important concepts. My Bibles have multiple colors of highlighters; so does my copy of Walden. If I’m tired at night, I just read the highlights.
Yellow shine on brass instruments – listening to brass instruments says to me to slow down, relax, and enjoy the journey. The sound of brass is just beauty and a time to stand still in the flow of it, whether it is Kenny G. with his saxophone, Chris Botti with his trumpet, or the school band playing a John Philip Sousa march. Of course, Sousa music leaves me feeling highly energized afterwards :)
So those are my ways to find fresh mercies. I hope you enjoyed this patter for a few minutes!
Here’s a shot from a conference room at work, showing night lights during the rain. It turned out pretty good considering it was my cell phone.
